THE TOP 30 EXERCISES TO BUILD STRONG ABS & HEALTHY LOWER BACKS

Want To Say Healthy? Build A Resilient Core

If you want to have a long-lasting training career full of beneficial results until the day you put the dumbbells down forever, there is one absolute quality that can help you achieve that. A resilient core.

Building yourself a well-trained, healthy core is vital for not only performance but overall functional capabilities in life outside of sport/gym. Strength, longevity, power, endurance, mobility… the list goes on and on. Having a healthy foundation is helpful to all of those important attributes of fitness.

I know, I know – you’re probably thinking, “Not another core training article.” I agree that the term core training is maybe a little overused and has probably been a “hot topic” in fitness for longer than I’ve been alive.

Fads and trends have come and gone. You’ve probably seen every photoshopped magazine cover touting the secrets to a 6-pack and maybe even purchased it, only to be disappointed with the 1,000 sit-ups a day suggested by the magazine editors.

You’re sick of the corny infomercials claiming unrealistic results. You can’t log on to Facebook without seeing someone claiming they can lose belly fat by wrapping some magical Saran Wrap around their gut. The pills and potions are garbage. People wear corsets as a form of fitness. How did all of this happen?

It all goes back to the core. People think if they can improve the quality of their core musculature, they can improve their quality of life – and they’re correct. Most people just tackle the issue incorrectly or in a sub-optimal manner.

I like to find the positive in every situation I’m in. Through all the crappy advice from drugged-up genetic freaks, ineffective supplements and unsafe training protocols I just see one positive thing. People realize the importance of the core. Now let’s just get everyone on the same page and we can really make an everlasting impact on our training results and overall wellness.

What is the “Core” And Why Is It Important?

Before we get into these highly effective training strategies, let’s just take a second to get a general overview of the core – what is is, where it is and what it does.

If you asked ten coaches, you’d probably get ten different answers but to me the core is a very complex group of muscles primarily located in or near the midsection of the body and are responsible for stabilizing and/or transferring force during movements.

Our core is three dimensional in its structure and in its function. The six pack abs many people obsess over are just a fraction of what the core truly is – and those abs aren’t even be the most important component of the core in terms of performance.

Anterior core anatomy includes major muscles like the Rectus Abdominis, External Abdominal Oblique, Internal Abdominal Oblique and Transverse Abdominis which are all pretty obvious. There are also muscles that never get the publicity, but can play a major role in the core’s performance such as the Serratus Anterior, Psaos and the rest of the hip flexors.

Probably one of the most forgotten core muscles is the Diaphragm, which can largely impact our breathing, spinal position and torso mobility.

All of the muscles mentioned, and some way deeper muscles that are above my pay grade, make up what I refer to as the core. These are the muscles that I feel provide the most bang-for-your-buck when developing the main components practical core function; stability, mobility, strength, endurance and force (or absorption/transfer of force).

Why Train the Core?

Think of your core as the foundation of a house or building. A foundation insulates the cold, keeps the moisture out, resists the risks and damages brought forth by weather and supports the building or house forever.

Well, it is supposed to do all of that.

If the foundation is laid improperly, poorly maintained or made with low quality materials, chances are the building will suffer over time. Maybe crumble.

Just like there are remedies for a cracked building foundation, there are ways we can enhance our core structure and function. Take care of your core, it will take care of you.

There are many ways to train the core. There are several different philosophies out there and everyone has their own way to do it. I try to stay open-minded and incorporate safe movements that I know will be a beneficial addition to a program.

My analysis on core training has 7 essential characteristics:

Static training

Dynamic training

Anti-flexion, extension and lateral flexion of the spine

Hip flexion and extension

Limb mobility

Timed sets, rep ranges and sets measured by breathing

Consistency

I believe that if you use those 7 components in your core training, you will achieve the highest level of results. Those 7 things work as synergists to each other, giving you a complete core training experience, leaving few chances of your foundation being cracked. Some core exercises may use just one of the seven, while others can combine several different pillars.

All of those pieces to the core training puzzle can be achieved in these 7 anatomical positions:

Prone

Supine

Seated/Sidelying

Quadruped

Half-Kneeling

Tall-Kneeling

Vertical

Not only are those what I consider to be the gold standard for core training positioning, but I believe they should progress in that very order. Prone exercises are often the best place to start in terms of teaching and execution. Working your way through the progressions to get to vertical exercises is the end goal. This is not an order of difficulty, but more of an outlined plan of attack that considers coaching, programming, executing and available variations in each position.

Side Note: Speaking of vertical exercises, you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t mentioned heavy compound lifts yet. This is by design. I am a huge advocate for deadlifts, squats, clean, presses and all of those awesome lifts in terms of training the core. For the sake of this article, I’m just trying to focus on exercises that are more specifically targeting direct core activation.

Common Core Training Mistakes

Mistakes are awesome. Mistakes help you learn. Learning is even more awesome than mistakes. It’s science?

What isn’t awesome is making mistakes and failing to learn from them.

To correct a problem, you have to know what’s gone wrong. So here are the 10 most common core training mistakes that I see in the public or experience myself.

Thinking the core and abs are the same word.

Being too narrow-minded about core training philosophies.

Solely training one pattern, movement or position while neglecting others.

Not putting a heavy emphasis on breathing quality.

Being inconsistent or inefficient on core training volume, intensity and overall focus.

Forgetting to incorporate your core in other exercises of your training program.

Mistaking aesthetics for performance.

Mistaking impressive for effective.

Neglecting proprioceptive feedback pre, intra and post-training.

Thinking in a one-size-fits-all frame of mind.

Top 30 Exercises To Intelligently Train The Core

With those common mistakes in mind, here are 30 exercises that embody what true core specific training is. These exercises are insanely effective, highly scalable, incredibly easy to coach and most of all they are safe for nearly everyone try or progress to.

Instead of countless crunches or sit-ups, give these a try to give yourself a superhuman core.

General Rule: Begin ALL exercises with a full exhale prior to set-up. Hat tip to the guys over at IFAST for that one.

Now… lets get into the master list of core training!

RKC Plank (Prone)

Coaching Notes:

Set up in a standard plank position.

The movement begins when:

Both fists are clinches

Elbows are pushing through the ground.

Shoulders are reaching through your back.

Glutes, quads and calves are contracted.

Inhale through your nose, making sure you keep a flat back.

Exhale through your mouth slowly and with a relaxed face as you keep all the tension initiated in step 2. As you exhale, create force through the ground with your elbows and toes, acting like your trying to get them to meet on the floor in the middle of your body.

Fully exhale, then reset and repeat.

3-Point Plank w/ Band Row (Prone)

Coaching Notes:

Connect a light resistance band to an immovable object and set up in a standard hand plank position with the band in one hand. Be far enough from the anchor point of the band so that you get a resting tension of about 75% of what the band is capable of.

Keep all three other points of contact with the ground, inhale and slowly row the band in the same motion as a chin-up. Bring your rowing elbow to your ipsilateral hip. Squeeze and exhale.

Once you exhale fully, reset and repeat. Your rowing arm can return to the ground or to an overhead position.

3-Point Slider ABC’s (Prone)

Coaching Notes:

Set up in a standard hand plank position with a furniture slider underneath one hand.

Inhale and try to make your arms as long as possible without losing your basic set up positioning.

As you exhale, start tracing the letters of the alphabet with your slider in-hand. You can also use a towel on wood or a golf ball on any surface.

While tracing the letters, try to actively push into the ground and create a rhythm in your breathing and letters per breath.

After A-Z on one side, repeat on the opposite side. Spell shorter words, if needed.

Stability Ball Around the World (Prone)

Coaching Notes:

Position yourself on the Stability Ball like you would normally hold a plank on the ground. Your forearms should not be touching your chest. They are pressing into the ball.

Using just your arms, make mini circles with the Stability Ball. Make sure you minimize any other movement, especially in the lower half of your body.

Perform circles in each direction, or go from front-to-back instead of circles. Progress into big and slow circles.

TRX Body Saw (Prone)

Coaching Notes:

Place your feet toes-down in the foot strap of a TRX system or any other kind of suspension training implement.

Walk yourself out to a standard plank set-up with your elbows and forearms on the ground. Do not let your feet touch the ground or any nearby objects.

Actively press your elbows into the ground with your shoulder blades reaching out of your back and make sure you remains flat in the back.

Use your elbows to push your body backwards and pull your body forward back to the starting position.

Push-Up to Single Arm Plank (Prone)

Coaching Notes:

Start in a push-up position with a wider base than normal. Hands are under the shoulders and feet are about shoulder width.

Perform a push-up with a slight pause at the bottom, then explode up as you remove one hand from the movement.

Stabilizing on one hand, raise the other arm forward as you exhale fully and hold that position.

Alternate sides or perform the exercise on the same side for the desires set and rep scheme.

Stability Ball Single Knee Tuck (Prone)

Coaching Notes:

Begin this movement by placing a Stability Ball underneath both shins, with your toes pointing straight down. Your hands are on the ground in a push-up position. Keep your shoulders about your wrists and your back as flat as possible.

Next, bring the other knee and the ball towards your chest and hold that contraction before extending the knees and hips back to the starting point.

Perform equal amounts of reps on each side or perform times sets.

Resisted Dead Bugs (Supine)

Coaching Notes:

Lie on your back with your knees in the air, bent around 90-degrees. Dorsiflex both feet. Position both arms straight up in the air toward the ceiling.

Make sure you feel your entire lower back in contact with the ground. Do not ever lose that ground contact. Inhale through your nose, trying to fill the backside of your body with air.

Lower your right leg and left arm toward the ground at the same time and rate of speed. You’re exhaling as you lower the leg and arm. Stop both limbs about 1-2 inches from the floor as you complete a full exhale.

While step 3 is happening, your right arm is still point straight up. This are is being resisted in however way you feel appropriate. You can use lateral resistance or place the weight in the arm. As you complete step 3, your job is to also continue to smoothly lengthen your arm upwards toward the ceiling under load.

Reverse that motion to get both limbs to the starting point and repeat on the opposite side.

Kettlebell Turkish Get-Up (Supine)

Coaching Notes:

Lie on your right side with your right shoulder and hip in contact with the ground. Your knees are bent and about level with your belly button. A kettlebell is in front of you at chest level.

Use both hands on the kettlebell to roll to your left, landing on your back with the kettlebell still in both hands and resting on your chest. Your legs can both extend to the floor.

Using two hands, press the kettlebell straight up and release your left hand. Bring it to your left side, about 30-50 degrees away from the body. Retract your right shoulder blade with the kettlebell still in hand. Flex your right knee to get your right heel as close to your butt as you can.

Keep your eyes on the kettlebell until step 8. Keep the kettlebell overhead throughout all stages of the get-up. Your left leg should be about even with your left shoulder.

Sit-up and onto your left elbow, then extend your elbow making your left hand the base of support.

Lift your hips until you’re in a 3-point bridge position. Your left hand in on the ground, your right arm is fully extended overhead with the kettlebell directly above the left hand in a straight line. Your right knee is still bent, your left leg is completely extended and both hips are maximally extended.

Sweep your left leg back to create your lunge base. You right knee should be pointing straight forward, your left knee should point about 90 degrees opposite the right knee. Your kettlebell hand is still directly above the left hand on the ground.

Clean up your lunge by rotating the lower half of your leg to be pointing directly behind you. This position best represents a lunge or split squat. You can now look straight ahead, instead of up at the kettlebell.

Stand up from this position by creating force into the ground with your right foot and bringing your left foot up into the standing position.

Reverse each step on the way back down to the starting position.

Banded Leg Lower (Supine)

Coaching Notes:

Hook a resistance band up to an anchor point above and behind you as you lie on the your back in front it. Your head should be toward the band anchor point.

Bring both legs straight into the air with dorsiflexion at both ankles. Try to keep your back in contact with the ground, dorsiflexed ankles and extended knees during all stages of this exercise.

Pull the band down and to your sides, creating tension through the shoulders and lats.

Inhale, then slowly lower one leg towards the ground. Nothing else changes in your set up other than the leg lowering.

Allow a full exhale as you lower, pause with your heel about 1-2 inches from the ground, then reset and repeat on the opposite leg.

Roll-Ups (Supine)

Coaching Notes:

Lie on your back with your knees in the air, bent around 90-degrees. Dorsiflex both feet. Position both arms straight up in the air toward the ceiling.

Slightly roll back toward your head, then us your core and leg drive to complete a forward roll.

Roll onto your feet, then press through the ground to propel the rest of your body into a vertical standard position.

Reset and repeat. This movement should be execute with maximal force and single response reps.

Bottoms Up Kettlebell Side Plank (Seated/Sidelying)

Coaching Notes:

Set up in a side plank with your feet elevated on a 8-12 inch surface such as a medicine ball, stack of plates or a low box. Stack your feet. Keep your elbow in contact with the ground, directly under your shoulder.

Move your kettlebell into the bottoms up position and press it straight up. Try to keep the kettlebell in line with your shoulder.

Either hold this position for breaths or time – or you could add an addition movement by raising your top leg up and don’t in the frontal plane.

Seated Sled Drag (Seated/Sidelying)

Coaching Notes:

First, attach a rope or a band to a weighted sled. Ideally, the sled would be about 20 yards (or more) away from where you sit during the exercise.

Sit on your butt with your legs extended in front of you in a v-shape. Your knees can be straight or bent, whatever you prefer.

Grab your end of the rope, slightly lean back similar to the amount of lean you’d see on a lat pulldown. Hand-over-hand pull the weighted sled in towards your body.

You can add varying rates of pulling speed and breathing patterns to change the training effect.

Kettlebell Butt Walks (Seated/Sidelying)

Coaching Notes:

Sit on your butt, holding a kettlebell in the goblet position.

Place your legs in front of you at your most comfortable squat width, but flat on the ground with a slight bend in the knee.

Using your glutes, lower back and hips to initiate movement, start taking “steps” forward, backward and side-to-side for reps or time.

Chaos Hanging Leg Raise (Seated/Sidelying)

Coaching Notes:

Set up the exercise by attaching a resistance mini band to a kettlebell. Do this to two kettlebells.

Bring your kettlebells to a hanging leg raise station and position yourself in the standard starting position with your back against the support pad and your legs extended beneath you.

Place the bands attached to each kettlebell on each foot and dorsiflex at the ankle to support the load.

Slowly bring your knees up toward your chest, utilizing the lower abdominal muscles and hip flexors. Hold the top contraction to control the oscillations of the hanging kettlebells before descending down to the starting position.

This exercise can also be performed in an overhead hanging position or a dip position.

Slider Bird Dog (Quadruped)

Coaching Notes:

Position yourself on all-fours with your shoulders above the hands and the hips above the knees. Hands and knees are on the ground. A slider is under your right foot.

Push both hands through the ground to engage your upper back while keeping a neutral lumbar spine and pelvis. Inhale in this position.

As you exhale, extend your right knee and hip as your slide the slider behind you. At the same time, extend your left arm until it is in line with your torso. Make sure your rib cage doesn’t flare up and your belly button doesn’t sink in towards the ground.

Reverse that motion to get back to the starting position. Repeat, then switch sides.

Bird Dog Row (Quadruped)

Coaching Notes:

Begin by placing a dumbbell or kettlebell at the head of a flat bench. Place your right knee towards the other end of the bench.

Get yourself into bird dog position by extending your left hip and knee, while supporting yourself with both hands grasping the bench.

Release one hand to grab the weight, then carefully bring it to your left side in your left hand. Position that arm in typical horizontal rowing mechanics.

Apply force into the bench with your right hand as you engthen the right arm and inhale air into your back. Remain rigid in the core and glute to keep this position.

With the right arm, weight-in-hand, execute a row. Row the weight up using your lat, putting your elbow into your left back pocket as you contract and exhale at the top of the movement. Compete the set, reverse all sets and repeat.

Bear Crawls (Quadruped)

Coaching Notes:

Begin in a quadruped position with hands and knees on the ground, underneath the shoulders and hips respectively.

Slightly lift the knees off the ground without moving any other parts of your body. The knees should be 2-3 inches off the ground.

Take a step forward with your left arm and your right foot at the same time. The step should be no more than 6 inches.

Fully exhale as you complete those steps, then reset and continue to step with the opposite limbs. Perform these for reps, time, breaths or distance. Go slow. If you think you’re too slow, slow it down even more.

Quadruped Push Back (Quadruped)

Coaching Notes:

Set up near a wall or flat vertical surface in a quadruped position with a stability ball between your butt and the wall.

Push your body back, lengthening the horizontal and vertical distance between your hands and shoulders and you use your butt to push the ball into wall. Push hard enough to feel resistance in your core, but not hard enough to create a bounce back effect.

Hold that position as you perform diaphragmatic breaths without losing contact with the ball. If someone were to place a yardstick on your back, it should have points of contact at the sacrum, upper back and back of the head with everything in a neutral alignment.

To add a more difficult component, remove one hand from the ground either overhead laterally.

Half-Kneeling Pallof Press (Half-Kneeling)

Coaching Notes:

Begin with a proper half-kneeling position in which both knees are bent at or near 90-degrees. One knee is on the ground, the other is not. Your knee on the ground should be directly under the ipsilateral hip and shoulder. Preferably, the top of the back foot is resting on the ground so the laces of your shoe are face down. Lengthen your torso to be tall without extending the low back.

There should be a band or cable anchored to either side of you, far enough so that about 90% of that band’s tension is being accessed in the starting position. Using both hands, grab the band or cable and position your hands right under your sternum.

Press the band or cable directly in front of you, moving your hands in a straight line. Do not come out of your half-kneeling position or allow the band to pull you towards the anchor point.

Slowly reverse the movement to get the band or cable back to your chest, reset and repeat for reps or time. Play around with press tempo and incline.

Half-Kneeling Cable Chop (Half-Kneeling)

Coaching Notes:

Begin with a proper half-kneeling position in which both knees are bent at or near 90-degrees. One knee is on the ground, the other is not. Your knee on the ground should be directly under the ipsilateral hip and shoulder. Preferably, the top of the back foot is resting on the ground so the laces of your shoe are face down. Lengthen your torso to be tall without extending the low back.

If you right knee is the higher knee, you should have a cable machine with the straight bar or rope attachment directly to the right. The weight should be anchored above your head.

Grab the bar or rope with a double pronated grip. Do not come out of your position to grab the weight. Inhale at this stage.

Chop, or pull on a downward diagonal path, the weight as you fully exhale. Your right elbow should be inside your right knee at the end of ROM.

Before you reset back to the starting position, inhale again, and then exhale as you reverse the motion back to the start point.

Perform the set, then switch everything to the opposite side and repeat.

Half-Kneeling Push Pull (Half-Kneeling)

Coaching Notes:

Begin with a proper half-kneeling position in which both knees are bent at or near 90-degrees. One knee is on the ground, the other is not. Your knee on the ground should be directly under the ipsilateral hip and shoulder. Preferably, the top of the back foot is resting on the ground so the laces of your shoe are face down. Lengthen your torso to be tall without extending the low back.

In front of you is a band or cable, this is your pulling weight. Grab this weight with your right hand and extend your arm forward to start.

Behind you is a band or cable, this is your pushing weight. Grab this weight with your left hand and position it to look like the end ROM of a cable row. Your elbow should be bent and at your side.

At the same time, you want to smoothly row on side as your press the other side. Both should move in a straight line forward and backwards.

Slowly reset to the starting position, then repeat to complete the set. Reverse your set up to perform each side as the pulling arm.

TRX Roll Out (Tall-Kneeling)

Coaching Notes:

Begin with a proper tall-kneeling setup in which both knees are bent and on the ground directly under the shoulders and hips. Fully extend the hips, contract the glutes and pull your rib cage down towards your pelvis. Your shoe laces should be facing the ground with the tops of your feet relaxed against the floor. Only load your toes (bend them to grip the ground) if you’re having trouble holding the standard position. Stay tall. Stay tight.

TRX bands or suspension straps should be hanging around chest height in front of you.

Grab the handles for support and begin a rollout motion. Picture yourself about to do a belly flop into a pool.

Using your core, prevent your body from touching the floor and propel yourself back to the start position.

Reset and repeat for reps or time.

Tall-Kneeling Overhead Med Ball Wall Bounce (Tall-Kneeling)

Coaching Notes:

Begin with a proper tall-kneeling setup in which both knees are bent and on the ground directly under the shoulders and hips. Fully extend the hips, contract the glutes and pull your rib cage down towards your pelvis. Your shoe laces should be facing the ground with the tops of your feet relaxed against the floor. Only load your toes (bend them to grip the ground) if you’re having trouble holding the standard position. Stay tall. Stay tight.

About 6-12 inches from a wall, place a medicine ball overhead while staying in good posture. Quickly and powerfully bounce the ball off the wall without letting the recoil from the ball bring you off balance.

Perform the set for time or reps.

Tall-Kneeling Band Resisted Wall Slide (Tall-Kneeling)

Coaching Notes:

Begin with a proper tall-kneeling setup in which both knees are bent and on the ground directly under the shoulders and hips. Fully extend the hips, contract the glutes and pull your rib cage down towards your pelvis. Your shoe laces should be facing the ground with the tops of your feet relaxed against the floor. Only load your toes (bend them to grip the ground) if you’re having trouble holding the standard position. Stay tall. Stay tight.

Position a light resistance band underneath your knees, making sure each hand has equal resistance.

Place your forearms and elbows on the wall at chest level like you would position them on the ground for a plank.

Inhale, then slowly slide your arms up the wall as you fully exhale. Hold the top of the ROM for a 3-5 second count, then return to the starting position.

Repeat that motion for reps or time.

Single Arm Barbell Hold (Vertical)

Coaching Notes:

Load a barbell and rack it at about mid-quad height.

Stand to the left of the barbell and grip it in the center with your right hand.

Left the barbell off the rack and keep it on your side but away from the body.

Diaphragmatically breathe without letting the barbell alter your position for sets of time or breaths.

Med Ball Pump Fake & Slam (Vertical)

Perform a pump fake by doing everything you would do if you were going to slam the ball down to the ground, but do not let the ball go. Use your core to stop the downward momentum.

Repeat that motion, only this time actually slam the ball.

Reset and repeat. One slam equals one rep.

30-second Hang & Chin (Vertical)

Coaching Notes:

Hang from chin-up or pull-up bar with a grip of your choice for 30 seconds. Take the first few seconds of your hang to get a feel for the bar and set your shoulders, then keep your ankles dorsiflexed for the rest of the hang and chin-up. Also, keep your torso hollowed out by slightly pushing your hips behind you while keeping an otherwise upright position.

After 30 seconds, perform one chin or pull-up. Hold the top position for a 5-count, then slowly return back to the starting position with a 5-count on the way down.

Repeat these two steps for reps. Use a mind-muscle connection to make the main focus of this exercise your anterior core. Really focus on breathing and squeezing of the abdominals.

Chaos Kettlebell Carries (Vertical)

Coaching Notes:

Connect a resistance band to a kettlebell, then connect FatGripz (if you have them) to the band. Do this to two or one kettlebell.

Perform a loaded carry by gripping the band or FatGripz. Walk for time or distance. Do not let the wobbling of the kettlebells knock you off your path or out of positon.

Med Ball Rainbow Slams (Vertical)

Coaching Notes:

Stand with a medicine ball at hip level in a stance similar to your squat stance width.

Raise the ball up and overhead, similar to the shape of a rainbow, slamming it on the ground on the opposite side of the body you started at.

Rotate your hips and feet in the direction that the ball is traveling. Alternate slams on each side for times or reps.